1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to utility knife blades, and more particularly, to unconventional utility knife blades with multiple defined individual cutting portions that allow the user to have available on one blade, multiple individual cutting portions that will be used with special designed utility knives.
2. Background and Description of the Related Art
Conventional disposable utility blades are well known in the art. These blades, along with their knives, have many industrial as well as home uses, such as for opening boxes, cutting cord or cutting wallboard. Typical utility blades are encased in a plastic or metal handle in either a fixed or retractable position. When in use, the blade is positioned to extend outwardly from the handle, exposing the cutting portion and one of the cutting points of the blade.
Utility knife blades come in a variety of shapes depending upon the intended use. A conventional utility blade has a generally trapezoidal shape that includes a back edge, a cutting edge and two side edges. The trapezoidal shaped blades have two cutting edges or tips formed at the intersections between the side edges and the cutting edge. These sharp points or tips enable a user to puncture through a material which is desired to be cut, such as sealing tape or a cardboard box. Once the object has been punctured and penetrated, the user can slice open the material by dragging the knife along the surface of the material allowing the cutting edge to cut through the material.
Existing prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos.: 7,921,568; 5,557,852; 2,542,582; 4,592,113; 3,037,342; 5,636,845; and 4,745,653.
Although trapezoidal-shaped utility blades are widely used, they have only two usable cutting portions. They have the disadvantage that when the two portions get dull, the blade has to be replaced. The two-portioned blade, therefore, requires more frequent replacement after the two cutting portions are worn out.
Break-off style blades with a multitude of cutting portions are not well suited for many applications and there is a greater safety or injury risk due to potential snap-off during usage when side loads are applied.
There is a need for an improved utility knife blade that overcomes one or more of the above-described drawbacks and/or disadvantages of conventional prior art utility knife blades.